Ryder on the storm

In the ninth over of the Indian innings in Wellington, Jesse Ryder came on to bowl. The already loud crowd became louder. When he finished the over - only two came off it - the crowd went mad again as he went back to his fielding position. The first ball of New Zealand's chase, Ryder pulled, off the front foot, over the long-on boundary. He had them in such a frenzy that the attendance seemed twice the 21,500 present at the Westpac Stadium. They love Ryder here.

Thats not to say that New Zealanders are not frustrated at how he has wasted his talent so far. Ryder has a following nonetheless. Perhaps because he is more human than other sport stars. He is not a product of the gym. He has failings. He drinks a lot. Or he used to, we're told.

He punched through a toilet door in a pub. He partied too long and missed a team meeting. He grew "sick of playing for New Zealand A". He sells newspapers, and airtime on news channels. He was the lead news story when the infamous Christchurch bar incident happened, which cost him a place in the side for the England tour.

Ryder can also amaze with his talent. Give him a cricket bat and he becomes an entertainer. He can, as Ewen Chatfield, who has played with him at the Naenae Club, says, put bums on seats. Gavin Larsen, now CEO of Cricket Wellington, calls Ryder a rough diamond. Ryder can also spend hours signing bats and shirts for kids. He can play cricket with them in backyards. He loves kids; he is loved by kids. And adults.

One of those adults is Aaron Klee, who was the chairman of Naenae and then became Ryder's manager. "Cricket in New Zealand is very white-collar," Klee says. "Generally our cricketers have very nice backgrounds, upbringings and good schools and stuff. Jesse is different. He comes from the other side of the tracks. People see him as a normal guy off the street, or the suburb, who has got this talent and entertains people."

Klee is not a professional player manager. Ryder is his only client. The two hooked up because of Ryder's infamous comment two years ago that he didn't want to play for New Zealand A anymore, angered at a lack of opportunity. Klee helped Ryder "set things right then" and offered to help him in the future. "He is someone you feel attracted to help," says Klee. "He never upsets or hurts anyone. He has only upset himself or hurt himself in the past. He doesn't cause harm on anyone else. He is a nice kid.

"[It] amazes me he still plays cricket. Split family. Basically grew up on his own. Moved around a lot. Stayed with a lot of people. He had a challenging upbringing. Cricket has been one thing he has had in life that has been good for him."

The first step for Klee, and also Robby Bird - another friend at Naenae - was to make Ryder realise he had a medical condition. "It's a disease. That's not like a decision he makes. It is a disease, and it's something he is learning to beat."

How do you tell a 24-year-old he is an addict? "People's perception of someone suffering from alcoholism is an old-man-living-on-the-streets type of thing," says Klee. "It was something he thought he could beat on his own. The challenge is to make him accept that he needs help."

Ryder gets help from people who have been through the same stages in life - those "who have been in the same shoes as Jesse wears", according to Klee. "Professional sports people and professionals with sport. They understand the pressures he faces as a professional cricketer, and also the drinking side."

Ryder has also been helped by New Zealand Cricket, which has been very tolerant of him, Klee says. "He has been on their radar since he was 15-16, when he first got noticed. But at the same time they have made it pretty clear that they are not going to tolerate too much more."

The last warning came when Ryder missed a team meeting because of his partying, during the series against West Indies last year. Since then, Klee claims, Ryder hasn't had a drink. He may never look fit, but he has been athletic on the field, and has run well between wickets. That should do for cricketing fitness.

That Ryder has the talent seems beyond doubt. Larsen believes it will be worth it if the board is a little more empathetic towards Ryder. "If you can get five to 15 years of cricket out of Jesse, it is not only great for New Zealand cricket but world cricket, because he is a very clean striker of the ball," he says.

Klee has seen Ryder's talent at work up close. "He is a natural," he says. "When he hurt his hand, he was six months out of cricket. I went down and watched his first nets and everything came smack out of the middle. That's a natural skill.

"He comes straight out of six months without having bowled at all, and the yorkers come out perfectly. It's freaky. That's what people see. We have only just started to see it at international level. People in New Zealand have known about it.

"I am a cricket lover, I have played cricket all my life, and you don't see a talent like that very often, especially in New Zealand."

Ryder the cricketer is living the most important time of his life right now. After the India series he goes to the IPL, where the world will be watching. India will provide him many distractions - money, ad shoots, the Bangalore Royal Challengers parties. And then there will be the second ICC World Twenty20. If Ryder can get through all that without any trouble, if he can perform to his potential, he will have started a long innings.

"He will probably do something wrong in the future," says Klee, who hasn't reached a stage where he can be completely confident about his charge "It's not going to be smooth. It's a challenge he has to live with for the rest of his life. It's not something he can cure or sort out. But he's doing everything he can; he's seeing the right people. And we will keep at it everyday."

Yesterday Ryder addressed a press conference that ended in four minutes. He is a shy person. He speaks very little. He doesn't like the media stuff. According to Klee, Ryder has broken the record for one-word answers by any sportsperson. After this particular presser, though, Klee got a call that had him nervous. The number flashing was that of New Zealand's media manger's. Klee is used to bad news coming through that channel.

The media manager told him: "Hey, Jesse was fantastic last night. The guys had a few beers in the dressing rooms, but Jesse had Coke [after a 2-0 series win over India in the Twenty20s]. He enjoyed himself. A few other guys went to town, but he went to the hotel and slept. This morning he woke up early, bright-eyed, and he was happy to do media, and then he went to the gym."

It is not a bad start at all.